The centrifugal separators appertaining to the current state of the art are essentially formed by a cylindrical chamber which rotates at high speed. It is into this chamber that the fluid mixture to be treated enters. The fluid is rotated along with the chamber and thus, due to centrifugal force, the higher density components accumulate on the inner walls of the cylinder, whereas the liquid medium, at lower density, comes out of the cylinder.
A cochlea is used to push the accumulated material out of the centrifugation chamber. Alternatively, it is necessary to interrupt the rotation in order to empty the separator. These types of centrifugal separators cannot be used on mixtures in a gaseous medium.
There are separators for oleaginous mists that are equipped with a porous filter which rotates in a chamber. This type of separator only uses centrifugal force to project the oil, which condenses on passing through the micro-channels, against the inner wall of the chamber. The use of this type of separator is necessarily limited to mists.
The document entitled DE 100 35 055 A1 (INNOVA ENTWICKLUNGS) describes a separator which has an annular separation chamber. The document entitled WO 2004/050255 A2 describes a gas separator.